Scores of people, including children, have been killed in the Eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk after rockets hit a railway station.

Ukrainian Officials said thousands of people were waiting for evacuation trains on Friday, April 8, 2022, in anticipation to flee heavy Russian shelling across the wider Donetsk Region.

According to Kramatorsk Mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenk, the railway station was hit at about 10:30 local time (07:30 GMT) on Friday, April 8, 2022. He added this happened as the crowds were “waiting for the first train” to be evacuated to safer regions in Central and Western Ukraine ahead of an expected massive Russian offensive in the East.

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Oleksandr Kamyshyn, who is Head of Ukraine’s Ukrzaliznytsia State Railway Company, said two rockets struck the area. Meanwhile, Nathan Mook, an Aid Worker who saw people crowded at the station, counted between five and 10 explosions: “Two minutes after we had driven by, you feel it before you hear it: the boom, the explosion.” Mr. Mook’s aid group, World Central Kitchen, averred it was distributing food at the station at the time.

“One of our guys at the warehouse said he had seen Ukrainian Air Defence intercept one of the rockets. These were missiles, he could see the wings of the missile as it was intercepted.”
Nathan Mook, an Aid Worker

Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office later said that nearly 4,000 people, mainly women and children were at the station at the time. Debris from one of the rockets could be seen lying on the grass near the station, with a message in Russian, “Za detei”, meaning for or on behalf of the children, spattered on the missile in white.

124089858 tochka — Rocket debris with the message in Russian was visible on the grass outside the station

Reports of 50 Deaths

Donetsk Regional Head, Pavlo Kyrylenko, wrote on his Telegram page that the death toll rose to 50. He said that five children were among the dead. Local Officials said about 100 people were injured, of which a number of them were in severe condition. But there are fears that the death toll could climb even further.

Just minutes after the attack, Mr Kyrylenko accused Russia of using its Iskander short-range ballistic missile with a cluster munitions warhead. But he later corrected himself pointing out that Tochka-U rockets were used instead.

Russia’s Defence Ministry intimated that Tochka-U rockets were used in the Kramatorsk strike, blaming Ukraine’s Armed Forces for the attack. According to Amnesty International Weapons Experts, Tochka-U rockets are extremely inaccurate, regularly missing their targets by half a kilometre or more.

Was it a deliberate attack on civilians?

Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the attack. Writing on Instagram, he said: “Lacking the strength and courage to stand up to us on the battlefield, they are cynically destroying the civilian population. This is an evil that has no limits. And if it is not punished, it will never stop.”

Has the Attack Affected Evacuation Efforts?

The attack, according to officials is hampering rescue efforts from Kramatorsk, the largest Easternmost city in the Donetsk Region which still has rail links to Central and Western Ukraine.

Tens of thousands of people have already used the city’s train station to flee ahead of what Ukraine warns is an imminent large-scale offensive by Russian Forces in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. But Mr. Kyrylenko stressed on Friday, April 8, 2022, that the regional authorities are striving to get civilians out. Meanwhile, the Kramatorsk Mayor, Oleksandr Honcharenk, has announced an “emergency evacuation” using public and private vehicles.